Top rural youth compete for champion titles in Lincoln

AgriKidsNZ and
TeenAg competitors battled it out today in their respective
Grand Finals at Lincoln University, alongside the ANZ Young
Farmer Contest Grand Final.

Taking home the top honour of
2014 AgriKidsNZ Champions was 'The Three Makateers,' Mark
O'Shanassy, Jack Norman and Harriet Whitfield from
Taranaki/Manawatu.

The contestants were surprised but very
happy with the win today. The team worked diligently in the
lead up with regular coaching sessions from parent helpers
and practicing skills like cooking and learning different
elements of farming.

The 2014 TeenAg Champions are the
'Glenham Monsters,' Jeffrey Robinson and Justin Boyd from
Otago/Southland. The pair have competed at the regional
level three times previously and were absolutely thrilled
with the win and said that it was "very cool" to be part of
the competition.

Rounding out the AgriKidsNZ top three was
the Wainuioru Hillbillies Jess Long, Bella Freeman and Brook
Robertson from the East Coast Region in second and Aorangi's
Hind's Agris, Ella Yeatman, William Ward and Ben MacLeod in
third.

In the TeenAg competition second place went to the
'Two Lone Wolves', Graham Johnson and Cory Jones from
Waikato/Bay of Plenty and Tasman's Jack Anderson and Ben
Early, 'Jack & Ben,' took third.

"This year both
competitions were stepped up a notch in difficulty," said
Josie Hampton AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg Project Leader. "We were
very impressed with how all the contestants welcomed the
challenge," she said.

It was a frosty start, but for the
remainder of the day it was blue skies and sunshine for the
competitions.

The AgriKidsNZ were tested in a first-aid
scenario, identifying tools, sheep breeds and farm products,
making sausages and putting an irrigator together.

The
Race-Off was rather technical as the children had to measure
the right amount of food for hungry working dogs, wrap a hay
bale, stack tyres, taste test juice, grade eggs, throw
gumboots and, for the explosive finale, make a gyser with
Coca-Cola and Mentos.

In the TeenAg competition teams were
tasked with labeling meat cuts, managing hazards at a fuel
site, identifying animals only by their feet, mouthing ewes,
installing a sprinkler, and classifying parts of rumen
anatomy.

The Race-Off tested the teenagers stomach
strength as they had to pluck a duck, taste test dried
herbs, make a long-drop, correctly set a table, roll up
tubing, but a beehive together, correctly identify weeds,
and extinguish a fire.

The AgriKidsNZ and TeenAg Grand
Finals both comprise of preliminary modules, a written exam
and an observation round. The seven top scoring teams from
each go through to the Race-Off where competitors are racing
against the clock and each other.

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